ECHO (European Commission) - Mandate and Principles

Mandate and Principles

ECHO's mandate is to provide emergency assistance and relief (in the form of goods and services) to victims of conflict and natural or man-made disasters outside the EU. Its mandate also extends to disaster prevention and post-crisis operations.

European humanitarian aid is based on the principles of humanity and solidarity therefore its implementation depends on the application of international law, and in particular international humanitarian law, and on the fundamental principles of impartiality, non-discrimination and neutrality. ECHO’s humanitarian actions are based on compliance with international law and the humanitarian principles of non-discrimination, impartiality and neutrality.

In 2007, at the initiative of Commissioner Louis Michel, the European Commission adopted a "European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid" to constitute the first European political text of reference on humanitarian aid. NGOs participated actively to the drafting of the European Consensus and it can be considered "the most comprehensive text and the nearest common position to NGOs". The European Consensus reaffirms the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality and independence. It also stipulates "humanitarian aid is not a management tool for crises management".

Although the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid was welcomed as a positive strong signal, some NGOs expressed the wish that the success of the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid should be enhanced humanitarian response at field level and not merely enhanced rhetoric in Brussels. Amongst others, several NGOs called on the European Union to use its political influence to support humanitarian aid based on the mere principles of neutrality and impartiality and not on security agendas.